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The British government did not break the law when it implemented its “traffic light system” to manage international travel to the country during the pandemic, a judge has ruled.
On Tuesday, London’s High Court ruled that a case brought by Manchester Airports Group — backed by Ryanair, easyJet, British Airways-owner IAG, TUI UK and Virgin Atlantic — could not go any further, Reuters reports.
The airlines had argued that the system ,— which classified countries as red, green or amber depending on their coronavirus “risk” level, — was not based on data.
They also said the government had made last-minute changes to the traffic lights, causing them to lose bookings.
EasyJet alleged that the recovery of the travel industry was lagging behind the European Union’s due to the government’s strict regulations, Reuters reported.
In a joint statement, all of the airlines reportedly called recent changes to rules for people arriving from France “shambolic,” and said many more countries would be classified as “green” in the system if the government would only use a data-based approach.
However, while the High Court did accept some statements made about the government’s approach to the system, it did not find that Britain’s transport minister had broken the law.
The court ruled that the government should not have to disclose any more information about how it sets its travel regulations during the pandemic.
The government applauded the court’s decision, Reuters reported.
“Our traffic light system continues to cautiously manage the risk of new variants as we balance the timely reopening of international travel while safeguarding public health and protecting the vaccine roll-out,” a government spokesman said.
The news comes after representatives of UK travel agents went before a committee of UK members of parliament in June to warn that — if more is not done in the wake of the pandemic —, a generation of travel agents would lose their livelihoods.
What do you think about the traffic light system? Let us know in the comments!
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